Thumper
07-03-2019, 10:29 AM
A few months ago, I decided to have a nice shadow box made with some various military items from my James Bond days and give it to my son for Christmas. I started digging through boxes that have been stored away for the past 30-40 years to find what I wanted to mount in the box. My old "I've been there medals" and a few little odds & ends from my days in beautiful S.E. Asia. I worked many missions while there ... basically all the commie countries ... Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia (or Kampuchea as we referred to it in the "biz") and Burma (now Myanmar). While digging, I found this old letter of accommodation. I remember the mission like it was yesterday. I won't go into details, but it was a biggie. This was the time when Pol Pot (Sar in the biz) had the capital cut off and we had to get weapons/supplies, etc. into Phenom Penh. It was also the Nixon years and we were secretly bombing the shit out'ta Laos without Congress knowing, a mission handled by the CIA and Air America.
"The CIA directed native forces against North Vietnamese forces to a standstill. The CIA organized the Hmong tribe to fight against the North Vietnamese-backed Pathet Lao. The Pathet Lao were the communists in Laos. The CIA-backed Hmong guerrillas used Air America to "drop 46 million pounds of foodstuffs....transport tens of thousands of troops, conduct a highly successful photo-reconnaissance program, and engage in numerous clandestine missions using night-vision glasses and state-of-the-art electronic equipment." This was the largest paramilitary operation in which the CIA participated, spanning 13 years. The CIA was responsible for directing natives of Laos to fight the North Vietnamese.
Along with its humanitarian efforts, the CIA also conducted a massive bombing effort in Laos from 1964-1973. 580,000 bombing missions took place over the nine-year campaign, but it is not known how many of them were dropped by the United States Air Force and how many were dropped by the CIA. For the CIA, this was the largest paramilitary operation they had to date. By the summer of 1970 the CIA owned airline Air America had two dozen twin-engine transports, two dozen STOL aircraft and 30 helicopters dedicated to the operations in Laos. This airline employed more than 300 pilots, copilots, flight mechanics, and airfreight specialists flying out of Laos and Thailand. Even after the United States government made the war public, the American people were in the dark as to how large scale the bombing campaign was."
At the time I had just transferred from the Laotian Mission to the Cambodian Mission. We were doing the exact same thing in Cambodia that we'd been doing in Laos.
"The secret bombing of Cambodia was ordered by the President (Nixon). The fourteen months of massive B-52 “carpet bombings,” which killed tens of thousands of Cambodian villagers and an unknown number of Vietnamese communist soldiers in border sanctuaries, were run outside the military’s chain of command. They were also kept completely secret from Congress and the public. In recently released transcripts of telephone conversations between Nixon and his closest aides, the President ordered “a massive bombing campaign in Cambodia using anything that flies ... on anything that moves.”
(Ok, those soldiers and villagers outside the capital were Sar controlled.)
Now here's my beef. I dug my medals out of storage for the shadow box project. During this Cambodian mission, I pulled off a hero move (saved a BUNCH of big-wig's asses in the process) and our unit earned a unit citation for the effort. BUT ... the government also issued me a Cambodian Campaign Medal. My CO presented me with the ribbon in his office, but said they would have a formal presentation in front of the whole company to present me with the medal. Ummm, it never happened. When I inquired about the medal, I was told, "Son, we weren't in Cambodia!"
Once I exited the military, I noticed there is no mention of the medal in my DD214 and there is nothing in my military records. I DO still have the ribbon ... but never formally received the medal. I guess my question is, should I order the medal over the i-net and pair it with my ribbon? Or would that be "stolen valor" since I have ZERO proof of earning and being presented with that medal? If nothing else, it would be a good story, but I'm not really sure what to do and wonder if I should simply ignore the whole thing?
I DO have the copy of the unit citation paperwork here (I'll post a scan below), but that doesn't prove the medal was issued. It sure is odd that the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia was involved with the presentation though ... I mean, since we weren't even in Cambodia and all. (wink, wink) ;)
I blocked out my SSN so you heathens won't be able to clean out my massive bank account!
10777 10776
"The CIA directed native forces against North Vietnamese forces to a standstill. The CIA organized the Hmong tribe to fight against the North Vietnamese-backed Pathet Lao. The Pathet Lao were the communists in Laos. The CIA-backed Hmong guerrillas used Air America to "drop 46 million pounds of foodstuffs....transport tens of thousands of troops, conduct a highly successful photo-reconnaissance program, and engage in numerous clandestine missions using night-vision glasses and state-of-the-art electronic equipment." This was the largest paramilitary operation in which the CIA participated, spanning 13 years. The CIA was responsible for directing natives of Laos to fight the North Vietnamese.
Along with its humanitarian efforts, the CIA also conducted a massive bombing effort in Laos from 1964-1973. 580,000 bombing missions took place over the nine-year campaign, but it is not known how many of them were dropped by the United States Air Force and how many were dropped by the CIA. For the CIA, this was the largest paramilitary operation they had to date. By the summer of 1970 the CIA owned airline Air America had two dozen twin-engine transports, two dozen STOL aircraft and 30 helicopters dedicated to the operations in Laos. This airline employed more than 300 pilots, copilots, flight mechanics, and airfreight specialists flying out of Laos and Thailand. Even after the United States government made the war public, the American people were in the dark as to how large scale the bombing campaign was."
At the time I had just transferred from the Laotian Mission to the Cambodian Mission. We were doing the exact same thing in Cambodia that we'd been doing in Laos.
"The secret bombing of Cambodia was ordered by the President (Nixon). The fourteen months of massive B-52 “carpet bombings,” which killed tens of thousands of Cambodian villagers and an unknown number of Vietnamese communist soldiers in border sanctuaries, were run outside the military’s chain of command. They were also kept completely secret from Congress and the public. In recently released transcripts of telephone conversations between Nixon and his closest aides, the President ordered “a massive bombing campaign in Cambodia using anything that flies ... on anything that moves.”
(Ok, those soldiers and villagers outside the capital were Sar controlled.)
Now here's my beef. I dug my medals out of storage for the shadow box project. During this Cambodian mission, I pulled off a hero move (saved a BUNCH of big-wig's asses in the process) and our unit earned a unit citation for the effort. BUT ... the government also issued me a Cambodian Campaign Medal. My CO presented me with the ribbon in his office, but said they would have a formal presentation in front of the whole company to present me with the medal. Ummm, it never happened. When I inquired about the medal, I was told, "Son, we weren't in Cambodia!"
Once I exited the military, I noticed there is no mention of the medal in my DD214 and there is nothing in my military records. I DO still have the ribbon ... but never formally received the medal. I guess my question is, should I order the medal over the i-net and pair it with my ribbon? Or would that be "stolen valor" since I have ZERO proof of earning and being presented with that medal? If nothing else, it would be a good story, but I'm not really sure what to do and wonder if I should simply ignore the whole thing?
I DO have the copy of the unit citation paperwork here (I'll post a scan below), but that doesn't prove the medal was issued. It sure is odd that the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia was involved with the presentation though ... I mean, since we weren't even in Cambodia and all. (wink, wink) ;)
I blocked out my SSN so you heathens won't be able to clean out my massive bank account!
10777 10776